European Central Bank Pushes for Tighter Control of Digital Currencies
The European Central Bank (ECB) has urged its members to impose tighter controls on the activities of companies that exchange virtual currencies or custody them for their clients. The comments come as the European Union moves toward extending the economic bloc's anti-money laundering statutes to cover digital currency activities. At the same time, the ECB has been conducting its own investigations of both digital currencies like bitcoin as well as its underlying technology. Perhaps most notable in the ECB’s legal opinion, published earlier this week, is its assertion that the broader....
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The European Central Bank (ECB) has proposed a directive of the European Parliament and of the Council stating that ‘virtual currencies do not qualify as currencies from a Union perspective,’ and wants digital currencies to be explicitly defined as not legal currencies or money. In a document titled, Opinion of the European Central Bank [PDF], the ECB is proposing amending Directive (EU) 2015/849 on the prevention of the use of the financial system for the purposes of money laundering or terrorist financing and amending Directive 2009/101/EC. According to the ECB, the use of digital....
The European Central Bank (ECB) has given its long-awaited opinion on proposed regulations on digital currencies, including bitcoin. The bank also suggested there’s room for improvement to the European Council and Parliament’s proposal. The aim, it said, is to prevent use of the financial system for money laundering and terrorism financing. ECB: Tighter....
The European Council of the EU has set forth guidelines in which it will seek to regulate virtual currencies and curb terrorist funding opportunities. In light of several high terror attacks within the EU in 2015, many regulators and citizens called for tighter surveillance and anti-terrorism operations. Calls for tighter control over virtual currencies after reports were released when it was suggested that some terrorists might have benefited from using Bitcoin to fund their activities. While such claims that terrorists have a unique advantage in using Bitcoin, the European Council is....
The ECB, in its legal opinion, asks EU institutions to stop promoting Bitcoin and other virtual currencies to ensure that the Central Bank continues to maintain control over the monetary system. Bitcoin is probably the most disruptive innovation of this century. As the decentralized cryptocurrency continues to revolutionize the global financial system, the European Central Bank has started to feel the heat. In a recent statement, ECB has asked lawmakers in the European Union to tighten the regulatory screws around Bitcoin and other digital currency to save itself from losing control over....
At a speech in Rome yesterday, Yves Mersch of the European Central Bank reiterated the bank’s stance on cryptocurrencies from 2012, but warned that such currencies should not be ignored. Essentially, Mersch’s comments were that digital currencies were still too small to be of any consequence at the moment — a key part of the Virtual Currency Schemes report from October 2012, when bitcoins were trading for tens of dollars. “Many media commentators have been wondering what impact these currencies will have on retail payments and even on central banks,” he said. “I agree that virtual currency....